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Two police captains among those charged in TBI misconduct case

KNOXVILLE – The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation received indictments for four people, including two Newport police captains, in connection to a misconduct case involving the sale of stolen goods and prescription pills.

KNOXVILLE – The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation received indictments for four people, including two Newport police captains, in connection to a misconduct case involving the sale of stolen goods and prescription pills.

At the request of Fourth District Attorney General James Dunn, TBI agents started an investigation involving James Finley Holt on April 16. During the investigation, agents developed information Holt, a captain for the Newport Police Department, bought and sold stolen goods, and on several occasions, at the store owned by his wife, Newport Alderwoman Kathy Darlene Holt.

Additionally, investigators said James Holt bought and sold prescription drugs, including Hydrocodone and Xanax, and some of the transactions happened in a school zone while Holt was on duty.

The investigation also revealed Newport police Capt. Roger Lynn Schults participated in the illegal activity, though in a lesser extent, while on duty. Investigators further determined Kathy Holt was complicit with the operation, and the Holts’ son, Kenneth Trece Myers, was also involved.

On Wednesday, a special Cocke County grand jury returned indictments for all four individuals, charging 59-year-old James Holt with 10 counts of official misconduct, eight counts of money laundering, one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, and five counts of sale and delivery of a controlled substance.

The grand jury indicted Shults, 54, on four counts of official misconduct and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering.

The indictments for 50-year-old Kathy Holt charged her with one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and three counts of money laundering.

The grand jury indicted Myers, 31, on one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering.

James Holt was booked in at the Washington County Jail. Schults, Kathy Holt and Myers will be booked in at the Cocke County Jail.

As part of the ongoing investigation, TBI special agents executed search warrants Wednesday at the Newport Police Department and Kathy Holt’s store, the Pit Stop Mobil Mart.

Investigators from the U.S. attorney’s office, Tennessee Highway Patrol, Tennessee Department of Revenue and Tennessee Office of the Comptroller were also involved in the investigation, which remained open.